A number of you have sent email that from your end looks unanswered. I have been having a horrible problem with my server; it forgets my password and for some reason has a hard time sending my mail--it keeps bouncing. I had a meeting with the computer geek in charge of PINE here at MU, and apparently a number of us graduate-types have similar problems. (It also scrambles part of our messages, introducing "typos", cutting off parts of messages, etc. Not cool) It has been promised to be fixed within a week or so, so please be patient. As for me, I am just about to pay for an AOL account or teach 'pooter geeks a new language. Bobonics. Q: (From FML/Mucho Private Posts): Any domesticated animals in the New World prior to European contact? A: Oooooo, this could get ethnocentric. Only turkeys think domestication occurred in the eastern hemisphere. Proportionally, more animal domestication took place in the New World than the Old World. Off the top of my head, New World (independent) domestication produced dogs, turkeys, llamas, chinchilla, guinea-pigs, alpacas, and macaws. Since contact, you have to add skunks, mink, trout and other fishies, and various insects. That is not to mention the plants, which, BTW, literally feeds the world (Try living without maize, beans, squash, spuds or tobacco...ok 4 out of 5 ain't bad). Just because ethnocentric western/white/European science tends to emphasize European achievements, it doesn't mean Asia, Africa or the New World hasn't made significant contributions. As a matter of fact, Europeans didn't domesticate much compared to Africans, Mid-Easterners, Americans, and Asias. (Horse-Asia; Cow-Eurasia/Asia; Sheep/Goat-Middle East; Dog-pert near everywhere; Cat-Africa; Ferret-Eurasia/Mediteranean; Chicken-Asia; Rabbit-Europe; Pig-Middle East/Eurasia; Reindeer-Europe....heck, I could go on and on, but the point is made. The main difference between domestication in the New and Old Worlds was the degree of diffusion from the origin point, and that was primarily an accident of fate. Eurasia tends to run east-west and the Americas north-south. Domesticated species tended to remain isolated in the Americas because of severe changes in environment, while in Europe, they could spread from one side to the other, increasing their impact. However, in terms of numbers of species, the Native Americans contributed more than their share. As for references, I'm not going to waste my time and FML space on this one. Go to a good library and look up domestication on Current Contents, Biological Abstracts, or Anthropological Abstracts. As a specialist in both paleoecology and domestication, I can say you will find thousands of modern references regarding New World animal domestication. The origin of the Ferret is lost or at least obscured by antiquity. It is clear that it (or its ancestor) was mentioned by early Greek writers. Between 450 and 425 BC, Aristophanes mentions ferrets at least 6 times in five plays. About the same time, a "wild ferret" was mentioned by Herodotus. This situation illustrates a common problem in studies of domestication. At what point does the animal's name change from the wild species to the domesticated species? To this day, in many European languages, the name of the ferret and the polecat is the same or very similar. I think the ferret was domesticated by the time of Aristophanes and Herodotus because they could differentiate between the two types of Ferret; wild and domestic. As for the idea that the ferret was domesticated in Egypt; I've recieved some mail recently from top Egyptian archaeologists that state they have never heard of domesticated ferrets in Egypt. Although the occasional weasel has been found mummified, no ferret has ever been found. In Europe, polecats HAVE been found in archaeological contexts, but as of yet (as far as I know) no ferret remains have been confirmed. I have been speaking with several Old World archaeologists about animal remains from castles and large town garbage dumps, and there is a good possiblity that ferret remains are included in the collection, but they are unidentified as of yet. Hopefully, by next year, I can correct that! Mo' Bob and the 18 Mo' Sofa Sharks [Posted in FML issue 1846]